Monday, March 19, 2012

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States,
founded the Carter Center and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Carter is also a Sunday School teacher
and has followed that avocation since his earliest years. In this
interview, HuffPost's Senior Religion Editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush
spoke to President Carter by phone about the hardest questions presented
in the Bible: from gays, science, the role of women, slavery passages
and more. The former president offered answers to each of them with the
insights and spiritual wisdom he has included in his latest book: "NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter."

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Thank you so much for talking with
me President Carter. As I warned, I am going to be asking the tough
questions. So ... Did God write the Bible?
President Jimmy Carter: God inspired the Bible but didn’t write every
word in the Bible. We know, for instance that stars can’t fall on the
earth, stars are much larger than the earth. That was a limitation of
knowledge of the universe or physics, or astronomy at that time, but
that doesn’t bother me at all.

How do you approach the passages in the Bible that talk about
God’s creation (Genesis 1:1) while maintaining a positive attitude
towards science?
I happen to have an advantage there because I am a nuclear physicist
by training and a deeply committed Christian. I don’t have any doubt in
my own mind about God who created the entire universe. But I don’t
adhere to passages that so and so was created 4000 years before Christ,
and things of that kind. Today we have shown that the earth and the
stars were created millions, even billions, of years before. We are
exploring space and sub-atomic particles and learning new facts every
day, facts that the Creator has known since the beginning of time. What do you say to those who point to certain scriptures that
women should not teach men or speak in church? (1 Corinthians 1:14)

I separated from the Southern Baptists when they adopted the discriminatory attitude towards women, because I believe what Paul taught in Galatians
that there is no distinction in God’s eyes between men and women,
slaves and masters, Jews and non-Jews -– everybody is created equally in
the eyes of God.
There are some things that were said back in those days –- Paul also
said that women should not be adorned, fix up their hair, put on
cosmetics, and that every woman who goes in a place of worship should
have her head covered. Paul also said that men should not cut their
beards and advocated against people getting married, except if they
couldn’t control their sexual urges. Those kinds of things applied to
the customs of those days. Every worshipper has to decide if and when
they want those particular passages to apply to them and their lives.

A lot of people point to the Bible for reasons why gay people should not be in the church, or accepted in any way.
Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ
was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of
his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people
should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people
to be married in civil ceremonies.
I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches
must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each
congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a
local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis,
which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church
decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.

What about passages saying slaves obey your masters?
(Colossians 3:22) Do you think there is ever a time to say, ok, we know
that we don’t agree with that passage, let's get rid of it?
Well, the principles of that are still applicable. It wasn’t a
matter that the Bible endorses slavery, it was that throughout history,
now and in the future there are going to be some who are in a
subservient position like when I was commanding officer of a ship when I
was in the submarine corps. It is meant to preserve the basic
principles that don’t cause resentment or hatred or betrayal or false
attitudes. But it also says that a master should respect your servant.
So, it works both ways.

If You Like What You're Reading, Share!

They Like Me, They Really Really Like Me!

About Me

To borrow some words from Drake, "I'm more than just a number." But if I WERE a number, it would be 7. Since it's God's number, the 7th day is one to rest, and... well, I think it rocks. But if life were a scale of 1-10, then me being a 7 fits too, because I'm not perfect. But I'm not your average girl, either. :-) I'm 30, a Christ-follower, slightly off kilter (but aren't all "ar-teeests"?), and happily married to Keiron, my solid and strong rock. And Techie-extraordinaire. We are the proud parents of a baby girl, Zoe. Hope you enjoy my rantings, don't take my sarcasm too seriously and know that comments are welcome. Very welcome... ahem, HINT, HINT, HINT! But enough about me, time for this 7 to give it a rest. xoxox

"While reading your blog I often sense a certain amount of conviction on your behalf, which makes me wonder why isn’t everyone reading the blogs of a woman who actually “gets it.”Don, at Minus The Bars"A curious mix of the sacred and profane...too nice for a run of the mill blog? "Joe, my brother, author of The Blog of Blogs"Are you really bored or something?"Joscelyne, my sister"Pretty f****ing intense."Reader Brooke Farmer, on this entry.

"A great outlet for such a prolific mind and an entertaining mix of spirituality and current events."Keiron, my husband, also known on here as K, or my Knight & Sunshine